A few weeks back a little before Memorial Day, I received the following email from Steve Gamble the owner of Pyrocreations (A store for stuff to make fireworks with and also selling a wide variety of novelty fireworks and endless types of fuses.) I found it to be very inspiring. So, I asked Steve if he was okay with me reporting his mail on my forum so that I could share it with a wider audience as it deserves (really it deserves a far wider audience I can supply, but hey, every little bit counts!) He kindly gave permission to reproduce his email and so, here it is! It really is a good read and not very long, you REALLY should read it in its entirety!

And now, for your dancing and dining pleasure, the email you've all been waiting anxiously for, here it is! ENJOY!

To my fellow Pyros.You don't know how much that YOU as a customer are valued to us at Pyrocreations. We are a very small company blessed by our customers and founded on Gods principles. We want to thank you for your support of our freedom and standing for what is good and American. Thank you for your past, present and future orders with our company and we cannot thank you enough. I love America, but do not love what I see her becoming. We are losing freedoms at a rapid pace as other groups try to destroy us and what American is and what it stood for. I am not here to talk about politics or religion. I am here to speak the truth and to ask you as someone who loves his country, who loves America enough to speak up that we love America and we will not back down and show that we still believe in Freedom and America by lighting up the sky like never before this Fourth of July. I am not telling anyone to break the law but what I am saying is this: This Fourth of July should be the biggest Fourth of July since America was founded! We should rock the United States with fireworks this fourth like no other. This is not a sales tactic. You stand for what is right and good and LOVE your fireworks! So a large percentage of you buy fireworks already made at tents or your favorite fireworks store for your Fourth of July fireworks show. This year I'm asking you to go all out! Not because Steve Gamble told you but because you believe in and love America. We at Pyrocreations have almost 30k customers emails and they are from all 50 states and all around the world. If you are receiving this email and you are a warm blooded American who still loves their country. Then my hope by this little email you will go the extra mile this year and that you would also forward this email and share with all you know. As things get harder for free warm blooded Americans as we are attacked and threatened. Many have had their lives taken because they believed in freedom. As we see these changes unfold before our eyes, as we see America being attacked, WE WILL let our voice be heard and show this Fourth of July of 2015, that we love America and we will stand for what we believe in as an American by putting on a fireworks show like no other. We will ask those who normally do not shoot fireworks to do it this year in the name of freedom. Even if you have to drive five hours to be legal, find a friend or friends who are serious about their country and what it's becoming who will open their place up so you can do this for Freedoms sake! No better way to show your patriotism and freedom then shooting off Fireworks. In 1775 Patric Henry said "Give me liberty, or give me death!" I believe in my freedom in America and it's time we make a statement that there are still people in America that believe in the sweet land of liberty. And we believe in justice for all which many of us kids grew up announcing every morning in school and as we pledged allegiance to our flag. This was done under God, indivisible and with liberty and justice for all. let your freedom RING!

I know this email may be a risky thing for me and my business, I know it is something that may cause opposition but I must express my opinions and love for my country, because I am personally afraid of where it's heading. Since I currently have access to many patriotic God- fearing men and women who still have a hunger for our country to be the glory of what it once was and to make a stand against our opposers who threaten us and try to force us to cower in fear by stealing our freedom using scare tactics. I've always heard that these colors don't run and it's time for us to take a stand! I must do what I feel led no matter the consequences. I know I may even lose customers over this email and it frightens me to think of these things and of course is never my Intentions but I still make no apologies for my love of God and America. I know also I will probably receive many emails after I send this, hopefully some with gratitude from those who share my view but no doubt some with hate. but know this. I will always speak my mind and this year let's all make a statement that will be heard and seen all around the United States. If you read this to the end I again thank you! I hope this encourages you to continue with what you love and do it with passion no matter the opposition against us! I would no more like to see this spread like wildfire and this 4th of July be a statement to those all around us.

I hear ya Gordon, they are a really great company to do business with. I have made quite a few purchases from them (as well as some of the other similar type suppliers) and while everyone in the industry seems to be pretty solid and decent people, the folks here are in a class of their own. I have always been more than happy with any purchase I've made from them. So, keep them in mind of future reference. Most of the actual fireworks they have as all novelty items as I'd mentioned. Although, some of the novelty stuff they have is AWESOME! For instance, the "Adult Snaps" which are like the little paper-wrapped packet of rocks coated with a very small amount of an ( impact sensitive ) explosive "Snap POPs"; however, these "Adult Snaps" are MUCH BIGGER and are actually 1"x1/4" tubes about half full of the same stuff. Between the larger quntity of shock sensitive material and the fact that it is in a sealed tube makes these things startlingly LOUD with a very sharp and pointed crack! They sound much like the better firecrackers from when I was a kid oh so very long ago. And if you really like loud, they have various lines of "thunder mugs." The best part though is that they sell the necessary supplies for making nearly any kind of pyrotechnic device of your own! If you go that route though, please be sure to learn proper safety BEFORE making any devices. Safety is the A#1 Absolute priority when handling this kind of stuff! This point cannot be stressed enough! After all, you don't want to wind up like this guy

As far as the Adult Snaps go, the exact brand of them seems to vary over time, but the quality and LOUDNESS of them does not! To make matters even better, you can purchase them by the case for $129 (VERY much worth it, an incredible deal really!) which is 10 "flat" boxes each containing 30 retail sized boxes of 20 pieces each for a grand total of 6000 of the suckers! If someone doesn't know you are about to throw one of these on the ground, the strong likelihood is that you will scare the living shit out of them! Maybe even make a quick dash ( ) so they don't see you and don't know where it came from! What fun! Just don't do that to someone who is packing... ok? We don't want anyone getting shot over a little fun prank. A case is nearly limitless fun guaranteed for years to come. I know, I bought one

Don't forget, NO 4th of July celebration would be complete without at least a small WALL of "Poopy Puppies" "going" all at once!

And Gordon, whereever you're going to the 4th, I hope you have a great time!

-Elbow

P.S. Now, I really shouldn't have to say this, but the history of the world suggests otherwise... YOU and ONLY YOU are responsible for making sure that it is legal in your locality/municipality/town/village/state/et.al. to make fireworks for your own personal use on your property. Please be aware that you CANNOT transport finished or many to most if not all partially completed devices as well without a BATF Explosives Manufacturing License PERIOD! Don't do anything illegal or stupid. We are NOT responsible for YOUR or ANYONE's actions or how you or they use the information here or linked to from here. Again, don't be stupid. Be SAFE! Always take the most extreme safety measures. Your life or someone you care about's life depends on it! Don't burn your house down. Don't burn your parent's house down. Don't burn your friend's house down. Hell, don't burn down any houses, or any kind of building or even structure of any sort EVER! In fact, just ignore this post and don't do anything mentioned on it or anything mentioned or for sale on any pages linked to from here. Really, just lock yourself in an interior closet and have someone cut a few holes through the door via which you can pass through food, bedpans, etc... and never come out. You will be safe that way. If you manage to stay in long enough there might just be some cake waiting for you. (After all someone(thing?) once said... "I'm doing science, and I'm still alive.") Seriously though, if you are not familiar with proper pyrotechnic and hazardous chemical safety, DO NOT participate in the use or manufacture of any pyrotechnic compounds, chemicals, devices or anything to do with them, seriously!

GWiens2001 wrote:Dang, that is great, Elbow. If I was going to be in the state this July 4th, would place a large order from them. Glad to see a business that believes in our country.

PS - elbowmacaroni, If you want my recipe for LOUD, I suggest a mixture of ammonium nitrate and dark aluminum powder... a 9:1 ratio by mass (home brew tannerite). Load the mixture into baggies as large as you dare (and is legal), and shoot them. You'll feel that in your chest. If you want a little more of a show (and are prepared to deal with a fire hazard), mix in 25% titanium sponge. DISCLAIMER - YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING SURE EVERYTHING YOU DO IS SAFE AND LEGAL. THIS DOES NOT CONSITUTE IMPLICIT OR EXPLICIT LEGAL ADVICE THAT THE FOREGOING IS LEGAL IN YOUR JURISDICTION.

Ammonium Nitrate and Dark Al? Yeah, that would make a pretty powerful flash powder. No kidding on turning it into a fire hazard with the Ti sponge too! Especially with the ratio that high... heh... but it would look nice I'm sure. Have you tried the Titanium DiHydride that they have over at skylighter.com? It is quite a bit less spendy than other types of Ti, but just as nice with the sparks! Pyrocreations.com doesn't sell chems, only supplies and novelty fireworks, so that is why I am mentioning them for the TiDi (as they call it) in a thread about pyrocreations.com.

Also, I tend to generally not use sponge since I do a lot of rammed comps, and well, that isn't really the best stuff for in those due to the particle shape and hardness.

About the "message conveyance," that is what you call marketing, after all, he does sell fireworks supplies!

HT4 wrote:Seems like his head is in the right place, though I'm not sure I understand how shooting off fireworks on the day that everyone already shoots off fireworks conveys a message to anyone.

PS - elbowmacaroni, If you want my recipe for LOUD, I suggest a mixture of ammonium nitrate and dark aluminum powder... a 9:1 ratio by mass (home brew tannerite). Load the mixture into baggies as large as you dare (and is legal), and shoot them. You'll feel that in your chest. If you want a little more of a show (and are prepared to deal with a fire hazard), mix in 25% titanium sponge. DISCLAIMER - YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING SURE EVERYTHING YOU DO IS SAFE AND LEGAL. THIS DOES NOT CONSITUTE IMPLICIT OR EXPLICIT LEGAL ADVICE THAT THE FOREGOING IS LEGAL IN YOUR JURISDICTION.

Well, don't worry about it. If anyone is offended, that only shows that they did not read the whole article, or even the first third of it. The guy who wrote the article is very very clear on the fact that he takes no issue with gay people or their rights to have themselves a pride event. The headline and the URI however, sure do seem to give a different message in that regard than what the article itself does. And if anyone decides to be offended without actually reading ANY article, well tough shit. That is 100% on them and not you or the article. I must also point out that the URI and headline are also very much full of extreme hyperbole as well as being quite misleading as to what happened in the incident. After all, "burned alive" has a pretty specific connotation and it is not at all what the guy claims to have intended to mean by it as evidenced by his explanatory edit and the rest, well, while technically accurate is well off into superlative hyperbole-land.

And yeah, that was something that went horribly wrong and was immensely foreseeable to go wrong as well. It was pretty much guaranteed to end horrifically! The article mentioned that much of the sprayed metal dust was magnesium! That is egregiously neglectful to the safety of attendees. There is no safe method for the open-air dispersal of magnesium dust. Or, any metal powder for that matter. All such finely divided metals will burn extremely violently and far hotter than other dust-type explosions such as from flour, creamora (well, really any other non-dairy creamer as creamora is no longer made or powdered milk product) or any other commonly known problematic dust environments as nearly any material divided finely enough and dispersed into the air is capable of causing a very violent explosion and when indoors, the destruction of the containing building is the rule, not the exception. Another interesting fact about non-dairy creamer and/or powdered milk products is that they are VERY commonly used in actual pyrotechnic shows and effect pots for concerts, TV shows and movies as well to generate medium to truly gigantically enormous fireballs. This rather common method of fireball generation was even explored by Mythbusters. I guess they (understandably) just wanted to make some giant fireballs for fun and put them on the show, so they pretended as if it were a "myth" or whatever and that they had no idea if it would work or not (so they were bullshitting their way though yet another episode very heavily) and thusly proceeded to "experiment" with the process. Of course they made some huge fireballs with this method, and having been in the special effects industry prior to beginning this show for many years, they damn well knew this was real and would work great.

Here in the US, flour mills, coal processing facilities and many many other facilities which generate prolific amounts of dust from any material are all required by law to have dust suppression systems to avoid such incidents. You shouldn't mess around with metal powders at all unless you know what you are doing and take all necessary precautions regardless if you are dispersing them into the air or not. Metal powders in the hands of those who are ignorant of proper handling and usage are very dangerous period.

-Elbow

[EDIT - Fixed typo]

Neilau wrote:Sorry.

I tried to find the least offensive link to the story and that was it. Some of the others were WAY over the top.

The link heading is, I agree definitely over the top but the article rips into it.

Like I said the point was the tinsel catching fire from the fire works. Could have happened to anyone.

If I offended anyone, I Apologize. Seeing the thread turned into explosive mixtures I thought that that people might be interested in how things can unexpectedly go very wrong.